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Dark Horizons has a rumor that tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams are being discussed for the role of sexy mutant Stacy X for the third mutant-themed sequel.

MONSTER

According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Josh Olson, who adapted the upcoming ‘A History of Violence’ for New Line Cinema and David Cronenberg, has signed on to adapt another comic book for the studio. Olson will adapt ‘Monster,’ a best-selling Japanese manga comic book series from author Naoki Urasawa. As part of the deal, Olson will pen a treatment for a sequel, which he also will write.”

ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN

ICv2 reports that “Warner Bros. Home Video will release the first season of classic ‘Adventures of Superman’ TV series on October 18th. The boxed set, which has a suggested retail of $39.95, will include all 26 episodes from the first season of the series, which starred George Reeves, along with the feature length film, ‘Superman and The Mole Men.'”

FANTASTIC FOUR

Have you heard? Marvel’s releasing some movie today, some lesser known property … anyway, the Liberty Island premiere was hampered by rain and a hinky projector, according to Variety (subscription required). Guests were scheduled to arrive on the island by 7 p.m. and the film’s cast by 7:30, with the screening to begin at 9. But shortly after 6:30, just as a ferry dropped off at least 150 members of the New York press, a torrential downpour put plans on hold, stranding guests on the mainland and the press and publicists under a wooden covering on the island. Fox executives and cast members, including Tom Rothman, Hutch Parker and Ioan Gruffudd, holed up in the Ritz Carlton hospitality suite and debated moving the premiere to the Regal Cinemas Battery Park, before electing to go ahead with Liberty Island, where a barbecue, outdoor stage and fireworks show were already set up. The cast didn’t show until almost 9, and by then workers had successfully toweled down all the seats and repainted the splotchy screen, which had sent a torrent of white paint into the gutter during the storm. Rangers, ferry workers and SWAT team members, all working overtime, looked on as the reasonably good-natured guests waited for another hour while film’s actors and producers ran through the press line. The screening finally got under way around 10:20, after a fireworks show, only to have the projector break down 10 minutes later. By then the crowd rushed to fill the two boats heading back to shore. After reaching shore at 11, any guest still willing could hop into one of Fox’s limos for a late night screening at Battery Park.

Nevertheless, the cast was optimistic, even starting sequel talks with reporters. Comics Continuum talked to actors Julian McMahon and Chris Evans, who both were (naturally) interested in returning. “I think on how well the movie does and I think it also depends on the response to Doctor Doom,” McMahon said. “There’s a lot of things that goes into it. Obviously, there are contractual things in regards to who owns what. You have to be careful about pulling other villains in because you might want to use them in other movies.”

Sci Fi Wire has more from Evans, who said, “”It’s fun, because he’s really energetic, more so than anything else. He loves life. And I think that his arrogance is a byproduct of that energy. You don’t go in there choosing to play that. You kind of play his spirit. It’s his energy, and that’s just fine. To come to work every day and play this guy where you have all this energy left to crack jokes, you can’t help but kind of take that home with you. So it was great. It was fun. It just took a lot of juice every day, because your energy level would start to nosedive around noon.”

Sci Fi Wire also talked to Michael Chiklis, who talked about how director Tim Story made the time in the sixty-pound Thing suit more bearable. “He would shoot from the outside, the wide shots, and he would work his way in as the day went on,” Chiklis said. “So we’d be inside the feet and I’d be able to take the feet off. And the feet were like 12 and a half pounds a piece. So that was like, ‘Ahhh.’ And then we’d get inside the legs, and it was like, ‘Ahhh, the legs.’ And those would come off. So relief was on the way as the day went on. [Story] did something [else] incredible. About a month into shooting he put together a couple of scenes, and he showed it to all of us so that we were able to get a taste of what we were doing. It really spurred us on. It got us psyched to continue. In a six-month shoot, or a five-month shoot, you sort of can’t see the forest through the trees at some point. And when you get to see some small assembly like that it really got us all really, really excited and spurred us all forward. That was genius.”

There was also sequel talk from director Tim Story in Australia’s Empire Magazine, according to Superhero Hype. “I hope that we can come back for the second one, because from frame one we can go berserk,” Story said. “There’s no concrete answers yet, but we are thinking a lot about what would happen in number two. One thing that’s for certain is that you do get to see Reed and Sue get married, which would be incredible.”

At the premiere, IESB talked to Fox exec Tom Rothman (Windows Media required), who said Ridley Scott could be on board for another slimy sequel. “Every time I see Ridley Scott he still talks about Alien so there’s always a possibility [of him doing the next one]”, Rothman said. “I don’t think it’s near-turn, I think he has a couple of other movies he wants to do first, but we have a deal with Ridley and it’s always possible.” Before that happens, Rothman said we’ll see a sequel to “Aliens vs. Predator” in 2007.

STEVE NILES/LIONS GATE DEAL

The Hollywood Reporter also has a piece about one comic book creator getting a big check. “Lions Gate Films announced Thursday an overall deal with comic book author Steve Niles. Peter Block, president of acquisitions and co-productions, and Michael Paseornek, president of Lions Gate Films production, said the company has acquired worldwide rights to several books in Niles’ catalog in addition to establishing a first-look deal on all film projects by or found by Niles and actor Thomas Jane (‘The Punisher’). The deal includes Niles’ titles ‘The Lurkers,’ ‘The Dark Country,’ which has been adapted into a screenplay by Tab Murphy (‘Tarzan’), ‘In the Blood’ and a new project to be named at next week’s Comic-Con International in San Diego. Jane intends to take leading or supporting roles in each of the films, and he and Niles will serve as producers with Lions Gate.

THAT’S A WRAP

If you have the scoop on anything related to comic book movies, TV adaptations or just want to give us a briefcase full of cash, no questions asked, drop us a line and let’s coordinate. You can choose an alias if you’d like, or be mentioned by name — we honor requests for anonymity. Broadcasting live from Los Angeles, this is your humble scribe Hannibal Tabu saying thanks for your time and indulgence, I’m hearing about already brisk sales on my new science fiction novel (more info? Okay …), there should be fresh comics reviews online by 7PM EST, and “don’t blame me, I’m drunk too!”